Power transmission



Oct. 16 1923. 1,470,961

J. L. CREVELING POWER TRANSMISSION Filed 061;. 26, 1914 \NIwwssscs: 7 INVENTOH.

Patented Oct. 16, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN L. CREVELING, OF AUBURN, NEW YORK.

POWER TRANSMISSION.

Application filed October 26, 1914. Serial No. 868,665.

To all'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN L. CnnvnmNe, a citizen of the United States, residing at Auburn, in the county of Cayuga and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Power Transmission, set forth in the annexed specification and drawing, forming a part thereof.

My invention pertains to that class of power transmission wherein it is desired to alter the speed ratio between a driving member and a driven member. And, as the same is particularly applicable for use where a motor running at various speeds is desired to have its speed ratio with regard to its load altered, it will be described with reference to such a system and, as such systems are particularly applicable to automobiles, my invention will be described in this connection. #In the drawing, Figure I is a top plan and partial section of one type of transmis sion mechanism comprehending my invention, diagrammatically represented as connected with the ordinary motor and power mechanism used in gasoline automobiles.

Figure II is a plan of a portion of the apparatus shown in Figure I, with a modification incorporated therein.

Figure III shows a similar portion, embodying a slightly different modification than Figure II. V

Figure IV- is a. diagrammatic representation of a controlling means which may be substituted for that controlling means shown in Figure I. i

In Figure I, 1 indicates portions of the driving axles commonly employed in automobiles and independently supported by suitable bearing members held in place within the shell or housing 2, as by suitable caps 3, and united by the usual differential mechanism within the usual housing 4, which is provided in this instance with a ball race 5, in which are free to travel the balls 6, engaging the annular bevel gear 7, the outer periphery of which is provided with a ball race in which travel the balls,

8, engaging the annular gear9, as indicated. The gear 7 engages the pinion 10, while the gear 9 engages the pinion 11, both of said pinions being fixed upon a stud or shaft indicated at 12, and carried withina suitable bearing 13, and a similar hearing held in place by the cap 3, as at ,14. The, gear 9 may be provided with the flange 15, if desired, rotating against the sheave or roller 16 in such manner as to take the thrust of the pinions against the gears.

17 is an annular flange provided with a shoulder, as indicated, and rigidly attached to the differential shell 4. Perforations in the said flange 17 engage the studs 18 which carry the annular magnet shell 19 of substantially U section, as shown, and which is preferably made of steel having high magnetic permeability and low retentivity and normally drawn in the position shown in the drawing, as by the springs 20. A similar series of studs 21 engage perforations in the flange 17 and carry a similar concentric magnet shell, indicated at 22, which is drawn into the position shown in the drawing by springs 23.

The magnet shell 22 is provided with an annular winding 24, while the shell 19 is provided with a similar winding 25. Both of the said windings have one terminal grounded as indicated, while the remaining terminal of the winding 24 is connected as by Wire 26 with the slip ring 27 carried by the shell i and insulated therefrom, as indicated. The free terminal of the wind ing 25 is carried as by the wire 28 to the inner slip ring 29, as shown.

30 is a brush, or other suitable contact member, causing electrical communication with the inner contact ring 29, while 31 is a similar brush causing contact with the outer contact ring 27. The brush 30 is connected as by wire 32 with the segment 33 and may also be connected, if desired, with the segment 53, as indicated. The brush 31 is connected as by wire 34 with the segment 35, the said segments being insulated from each other and so disposed that contact therewith may be made, when desired, by means of lever 36, indicated in the drawing as upon a blank or dead segment. The said lever 36 is connected with one side of the battery 37, the other side of which is grounded, as shown in connection with the transmission gear case 38, which may con tain any of the suitable transmission gears now used in practice in automobiles. if desired, the said gears being connected as by shaft 39 with the shaft 12, as indicated by dotted lines, through which connection the pinions 10 and 11 are revolved.

The gears within the case 38, which form no part of my present invention, may be manipulated, as is usual, by means of a lever it), and are connected, as is the usuel practice, as by shaft 1, with the clutch member 42. operated as by pedal 43130 engnge the fly wheel -14, of any suitable typo of motor indicated at 45. if desired. the

' opposing faces of the magnet shell flfl and gear 9 may be plain faces so that when forced together against the action of springs :23 there will be a mere frictional contact between the same, or the faces be provided with engaging clutch members, as indicated in a small portion of said faces shown in plan in Figure IT, And when using this modification the faces may be provided with thin strips of non-magnetic material, as indicated at 46, so that when drawn together by magnetization they will not tend to freeze. Or, if desired, the faces of these two members may be provided with saw-teeth, as indicated in Figure III. or any such form of positively engaging means may be employed in place of the frictional engaging means vshown in Figure I.

And it will be obvious that both members 19 and 22 may be provided with similar faces, and their respective gears provided with proper faces to engage the same. 7 In that modification shown in Figure IV the segment 53, together with the lever 36 of Figure I. are suppressed, and the foot halal i7, provided with the lever 48 and the insulated section 49, normally drawn into the position shown in the drawing as by spring 50. is substituted in place of the laser 36: while the. segment 3.5fis shown as provided with a series of segments united by resistance membersfiQ in Such manner that downward pressure upon; the pedal causes the member 4% to more from the blank segment 51 to establish connection with 35ihrou-gh a resistance which may be decreased by further pressing downwardly upon the pedal 47 until the said resistance is entirely out out and the segment 35 engaged. Then, further pressure will cause the segment 33 to be cut out. and segment engaged. 7

An operation of my invention is substantially as follows:

Referring to Figure I, if the engine 45 and other parts of the apparatus indicated in said figure be at, rest and thelever 36 in the position indicated in the drawing, there will be no operative connection between the engine 45 and the axles 1, inasmuch as the gems 7 and 9 are free to re volve upon the balls 6 and 8.

However, if the lever 36 be moved onto the segment 35, current will flow from the baZttery 3'? through the lever, segment and wire 34 to Contact 31 in communiestio'n with ring27, from which eni'rent will flow through wire 26 and winding 24 to the grounded connection, as indicated, from which returns is made through the various parts of meichanicsl e iices iii eiectrical communlcatlon with each other, to the negative side of the battery 37, grounded,

as indicated, with 38.

This current will energize the winding Bl and causethe annular electromagnet to be drawn, against the tendency of springs 23, into close engaging contact with the gear 9, and thus operatively connect the Said gear with the member 17 and the diflien ential shell 4, through the internal members of which the said shell is connected mechanically with the axles 1, in the. usual manner.

Therefore, if the engine be started, and the usual gears within the case 38 be so meshedas to engage the shaft 39, the sire ft 12 Will be revolved, eiansringrpinions 1.0 and 11 to revolve and rotate the gears 7 and '9; and, as the gear 9 is now engaged, as one lined above, themember 1? will be revolved} and also the shell 4 and axles l, in connection' therewith. 7

Of coi rse, it will be preferable in start ing the engine 45, to do so when the gears within the housing 38"are not in mesh, so that the engine will run idle, and the}; depress the pedal 43 so as to break thecoanection between the engine and the clutch fl before meshing the gears within 38 by means of lever 40, as is usna l, And; thezgears having thus been meshed, the load may be thrown gradually upon the engine, in the usual manner, through the instrumentelity of clutch 42* If new with the engine rotating the agle 1 as above descsibed, it'be desired to change the speed ratiohet wesn the engihe and the said axles the lever 36 may. be moved onto the segment 33, and then cinn'ent will flow from the battery 37, through lever 36, seginent 33, wire 32, brush 39, inner ring and wire through winding25, within the magnet shell 19, to ground, and through the machine to battery 3 This will energize the winding 25: and cause the eleotromagnet' 25-4910 move into operative contact with the gear 7 so as to opemtively connect the said gear with the shell 4 through the instrumentality of member 1 7, and the axles 1 will now be driven bywpinion 10 and gear 7, instead of pinion ll end-gear 9, as above described, inasmuch as thislatter gear may now run freely upon the balls 8, since the frictional contact between thessid gear and the eiectromagnet 22-"24 will be broken when the current is broken at the segment 35, by Vmonemezat of the levenS from the said segz'nen-t85 to the segment 33.

Itiis, of course, obvioust'het under many conditions it a may be prefernbleto brealsZt-he meclfanieil connection with the engine, through the instrumen olity 0f pe al and clutch 42, whileshi'fting the load from one gear to the other. However, at times, this maiy be unnecessary and undesired.

f now it be desired to break the operative connection between the gear 7 and the axles, the lever 36 may be moved back into the position shown in the drawing, and then both electromagnets will be de-energized and in the positions shown in the drawing, and both gears 7 and 9 may run free.

If now it be desired to engage the gear 7 without first engaging the gear 9, the lever 36 may be moved over onto the segment 53, which is electrically connected with the segment 33, and the operation will be the same as noted above when the lever 36 was in contact with the said segment 33,-or the lever 36 may be made somewhat elastic, if desired, and in that event it may be lifted free of the segments and placed at any time upon a desired segment. without causing contact with any intervening segment while making the selection.

It will be obvious that, in place of the frictional contacts between the electromagnet shells or shoes 19 and 22 with their respective gears 7 and 9, I may provide the said shells and the said gears with engaging members, as indicated in Figure II, so that while engaged the gears will be positively locked with the engaging magnet shells.

And it will be obvious that I may provide the faces of the said clutch members with non-magnetic strips or liners, indicated at 46, so as to cause in magnetic effect an air gap, to prevent the shells and the gears from freezing, and cause them to be properly drawn into engagement, as shown in Figure II, when energized.

Further, it will be obvious that, if desired, the said shoes or magnet shells and the said gears may have their abutting surfaces pro vided with saw-teeth, as indicated in Figure III, or any type of engaging surfaces that may be desired for positive, rather than frictional, engagement.

And it will be obvious that, when any of the said positive engaging means is used, it will be preferable always, when shifting connections, to depress the pedal 13 and break the mechanical connection between the engine 45 and the driving mechanism.

However, when using my invention upon light cars wherein the frictional engagement is particularly applicable, the clutch 42, operated by pedal 43, may be suppressed, and also the lever 36 may be suppressed, and that arrangement shown in Figure IV utilized. With this arrangement in the position indicated in the said Figure IV there will be no engagement between the electromagnets and their respective gears, as the circuit will be broken at the blank seg ment 51.

However, if the engine 45 be running, the pinions 11 and 10 will be revolving, and retating their respective gears 9 and 7. And if the pedal 17 be slightly depressed, the electromagnet 24-22 will be energized by current flowing in the same manner as above described when the lever 36 was moved to engage segment 35, except that the resistance 52 will bein series therewith and the magnet therefore weakened and the frictional contact between the ear 9 and the shell 22 weakened so that t e load may be gradually picked up and the resistance may be lessened, and thus the magnet and its frictional contact strengthened by further depressing the pedal 47 until the said resistance 52 is cut out and the connection made through segment 35, as previously described. i

Then if it be desired to alter the speed ratio as before described, further depression of the pedal 47 will cause the circuit to be broken at the segment 35-, and made through segment 33, cutting out the magnet 24;22 and energizing the magnet 2519 in its stead, and thus disconnecting the gear 9 from the axles 1 and connecting the gear 7 in its stead.

From the foregoing, it will be obvious that I have provided a simple and effective means whereby the speed ratio between a driving member and a driven member may be readily changed by electromagnetic means which may be controlled at a convenient point as far distant as desired from the point where the actual mechanical change in ratio is made, and that the operation may be at all times within easy control of an operator.

I do not wish in any way to limit myself to the exact construction nor to the exact mode of operation above given merely to illustrate an embodiment of my invention, for it will be obvious that considerable and wide changes in apparatus may be'made without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, which is as set forth in the following claims:

1. The combination with driving means and means to be driven thereby, of means for operatively connecting the driving and driven means comprehending a plurality of pinions, a plurality of concentric gears engaged thereby, and electromagnetic means in power transmittin relation to the driven means and constituting means for causing the engagement of said gears with the driven means.

2. The combination with a motor provided with a shaft, and a shaft at an angle thereto, of intervening power transmitting means for operatively connecting said shafts comprising a plurality of concentric gears and pinions for said gears and elec tromagnetic driving means whereby said gears operatively unite said shafts.

3. The combination with a motor having a shaft and a shaft to be driven thereby,

of means for operatfiveiy connecting said shafts comprehending a. plurality *of con- Ccnfr'ic gears about the driw'wnhafh-Yhin for engaging the s'am'e with HR! afi'vifi'g Shaft, and electromagnetic mafi's fofienghiging saidconc'cntric gears and'forminga cdnnection thereof with the driven shaft;

4. The combination with a iiiotof' having a shaft and a shaft 'to be driven tiirbj of means for ope-rativel'y connecting s aid shafts comprehending a plurality of con centric gears about the dziven Shflf fi, Iiliihs for engaging the some with the" driving shaft and electromagnetic mzfiiualiy controlled means the rot'ation of which rota tizs thc drivcn shaft 'fonengaging Said "concentric gears.

5. The combination w'iih a' motor having a shaft and a s'haftto be drivn thereby, of means for bpetativialy conhccting said shafts compreh'cnding' a, plurality of concentric gears about the drivn shaft,=means for engaging the same with the drivin shaft, and means for singljr'andsclectively engaging said concentric gears :in'd c dhsing operative connection 'thercdfwith the di'ix en shift comprehending power 'tf'aii's lriitting electromagnetic en aging inans. V

'6. The combination with niofiirifm ing a shaft and a sh'a ft 0 6c d'rix h "fliirelfy,

o'f niesins for opiaitii'ely connecting 'sfiill shafts comprehending tl tgf iuihiity (if 0011- chtiri'c gears arbdnt thed ven shaft, means for En aging the same with the driving shaft, and means for singly'ng'zigin'g eah of said concentric g'cafs and dPfafiVij' uniting the same with fihe di ii ch shbiftcomprihending concentric elechofniignetic engaging m'e'ans in power tr'nnsiiiifting 1%- latio'n to the driven shaft for each of "s aid 7. The combination with a mini-Havin 2! driving shaft and 'a shaft 130 be tiiereiij', of means for opefli tivly cannon:- ing sfiitl sh'afl'is comp'rehending a plil fiili-ty of concentric gcats surrounding the di'ivn shaft, :1 plnmlity of concnt'ric magnetic clutches surrounding the driven-shaft and connected to re'volv'c ther eivitsh, of said clhb'c'hes registering *witlr'ene 6f iiiiili concentric goofsand "a'fifiptefl one?- gized to cause a power transmittiiigcbnnecti'oh thefiwith, ah'd when deeh'rgized to be freely inovnbie with respect tiii'tti,

and means for selectivly-cncbgizi'rig sfaid chitch'cs. JUHN L. CREVEEING;

Wit'neSs'es: m

MARY 

